Services

Take the plunge for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance

If you’re thinking of setting yourself a challenge this New Year, then why not take to new heights for Wiltshire Air Ambulance and take part in one of the charity’s exhilarating skydives.

The charity is organising three skydives on April 12, June 15 and August 16. Participants will join a tandem instructor and jump out a plane at 10,000ft, approximately two miles up.

They will travel at speeds of around 120mph and experience up to 30 seconds of free-fall time before the parachute is opened and they glide down to earth.

The skydives will take place at GoSkydive South Coast, based at Old Sarum Airfield in Salisbury.

Last year, more than 20 people took up the aerial challenge to raise more than £7,000 for the charity.

South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust paramedic Ed Bowyer, who helped organise the 2013 skydives and who has completed more than 1,000 jumps himself, said: “I think the Wiltshire Air Ambulance does an amazing job and this is a great way to raise money for the charity and take part in an once-in-a-lifetime experience at the same time.”

Luke MacCallum, who flies on the Wiltshire Air Ambulance, has already signed up to take part in a charity skydive on April 12, and will be joined by several people whose families have been treated and airlifted.

Mr MacCallum, 42, said: “I can’t believe I have signed up to do a skydive but I thought it would be a great way to not only raise money for the charity, but also to promote what we do. So I am literally falling out of the sky to keep the Wiltshire Air Ambulance in the sky.”

Wiltshire Air Ambulance is an essential service that serves all the people of Wiltshire and provides a life-saving service where the speed of the helicopter and the skill of the crew play a major part in the outcome of the patient.

From its base at Devizes, the air ambulance can be at an incident within 11 minutes and over the last 24 years, has attended thousands of incidents, providing an essential emergency medical service throughout the county.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance can also fly at night allowing its crew to land on hillsides, sides of the road and in places some land ambulances cannot get to.

To take part in the sky dive, you need to raise a minimum of £350 and a £50 deposit will secure your place. For more information contact call Claire on 01380 739453 or email claire@wiltshireairambulance.co.uk to book your place.

Full details are on the charity’s website at www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk

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